George and Kim Tilton of New Jersey are history buffs. In particular, they love to visit the homes of former U.S. presidents, so they came to Greeneville to visit the home of seventeenth president Andrew Johnson.

"We parked the car and thought this might be a situation, or it might be run by volunteers." said George Tilton. "Then we opened the door and saw the signs that are posted [that the site was closed]."

Even the staff at the Andrew Johnson site were unsure if the shutdown would happen until early morning.

Lizzie Watts is the site superintendent. "Everybody came in, and we had to fill out paperwork for furlough notices for all employees," said Watts. "We had to learn what will happen with the paychecks and set up all the security systems."

Despite the setback, the Tiltons made the most of a bad situation by taking the town's walking tour.

They are hoping that the shutdown will not affect the rest of their vacation.